Punishment
by Pheles-chan
Summary: Amaimon really shouldn't have hit his Aniue in the face... what happens to him after Mephisto's familiar swallowed him just couldn't be good...
1. Waiting to be punished

**I hope you'll enjoy reading this little first story of mine.**

**Ao no Exorcist and all it's characters belong to Kazue Kato and I do not make any profit with this.**

Dark purple swirls. Weightlessness. An annoying cold that chilled even him to the bones. Being completely alone in a seemingly endless nothingness of obscure shapes that didn't make sense. This was what Amaimon had been facing for – he didn't know for how long.

It could have been only a few minutes, seeing as time apparantly didn't really exist in this place created by demonic magic, but knowing his older brother it was more likely to have been at least a few days.

It woudn't have been much of a problem to endure the wait – he could be quite patient if need be – but the knowledge of what was doubtlessly to come after this was what was nagging at his usually quite stoic self.

His brother may be interacting more with humans than with his fellow demons nowadays, but there was no way he would just let Amaimon off the hook with a little bit of time spent in solitude left to think about his deeds as his sole punishment. HE wasn't human after all, and so Mephisto could punish him with all the malice he had as Satan's oldest son without risking to loose his face in the eyes of those stupid humans who were naive enough to trust him.

Amaimon knew it was an extremely reckless and idiotic move to punch his older brother in the face the moment he had seen the glint in the older demon's eyes when he was lying upside-down in that treetop staring at his little brother while he was licking up the steaming blood coming out of his nose.

He had wanted to apologize right away, but it had already been too late. His brother's summoned familiar, the Kuchen Cuckoo Clock, had swallowed him before he could react and the next thing he knew was opening his eyes only to find himself in this weird place.

Here the Earth King could do nothing but wait for his brother to come and punish him as the older demon saw fit. He had tried to find a way out at first of course, but soon he had come to realise how utterly pointless that was. If his brother didn't want him to leave this place then Amaimon simply wouldn't. He had learned long ago how devastating the difference in power between him and his Aniue was.

Thinking about it caused the Earth King to chew his nail for what must have been about the hundredth time since the beginning of his imprisonment. While Mephisto hadn't inherited their father's flames he was still the second strongest demon in all of Gehenna after Satan himself. That's why every demon with the least bit of sense would treat him with the utmost respect. Those who didn't usually ended up facing a rather painfull death.

There had even been times where Amaimon had taken it upon himself to punish those stupid enough to disrespect his Aniue, which was one of the reasons why he found it unnerving to say the least how his brother let those stupid humans treat him. The older demon had assured him it was all for a reason and any human who showed particular disrespect would still face some rather unpleasant consequences sooner or later, but it still annoyed him a great deal.

While Mephisto's former maliciousness had calmed down somewhat as the centuries passed and he decided to make Assiah his personal toy box, his power hadn't diminished in the slightest ensuring he could rest quite assured of no other higher ranking demons daring to meddle with him. He could still be exceptionally cruel when someone actually managed to annoy him.

Knowing all that Amaimon had still been stupid enough not only to ignore the direct order to back off given to him by his brother, but he even went as far as to punch him in the face! In front of an audience consisting of human exorcists and their youngest brother to make matters worse! Closing his eyes tightly and biting into his fist now instead of his nail to keep the agitation that creeped into his mind during his musings at bay he cursed heartily. He heard a voice chuckling in his head and bit down harder. The last thing he needed right now was to lose his compusure and panic because he started hearing voices. This place started to really get on his nerves!

"Tse, now really Amaimon, if this is supposed to be your attempt at self-punishment let me tell you it's a rather poor one indeed."

His eyes snapping open and widening almost comically the Earth King felt himself tense upon seeing his brother hovering in the void space before him eyes glinting with amusement and barely hidden cruellity and fangs flashing when he smirked, obviously enjoying the state of mind he found his little brother in.

"Aniue…"

"Amaimon."

"I… I'm…"

Amaimon found himself unable to continue when he noticed the slight narrowing of his brother's eyes. Mephisto didn't want him to talk. He wanted him to be silent and endure whatever he may mete out. The younger demon tensed up even more and pulled his shoulders up. He felt the sudden urge to curl up in himself, when he noticed his brother's grin widening slightly. He was enjoying this greatly.

A sudden burst of contempt for his own actions cursed through him. _This was ridiculous! HE was ridiculous! He was a son of Satan, a demon prince, he was Amaimon the Earth King and yet here he was, behaving like some frightened little kitten!_

He desperately tried swallowing the lump that was building in his throat successfully stopping him from apologizing and trying to talk his way out of this. It wasn't as if Mephisto didn't already know Amaimon was sorry - the younger's behaviour would have already told him as much - but one look in the older's eyes told him how little his Aniue actually cared whether he was sorry or not. What he cared about was to punish his insolent little brother and make sure he wouldn't dare to misbehave in such a way ever again.


	2. Executed punishment

**Thank you all for the reviews, they make me really happy! Well, here goes chapter two^^.**

**Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist and all its characters belong to Kazue Kato.**

"Well Amaimon, let me tell you that your lack of restraint in regards to your fight with our little brother did fortunately not have any irresolvable consequences."

Amaimon merely stared at his brother, not bothering with a reply seeing how he didn't really have anything to say to the information given – he couldn't possibly care less about their younger sibling right now. Besides, he was fairly certain that Mephisto didn't expect or even wanted an answer from him. So he merely listened attentively as his brother continued.

"So while you did indeed get rather close to ruining the game, I managed to save it. Meaning there are no problems and absolutely no reasons left for me to be angry with you whatsoever, nein?" The older one smirked devilishly, his fangs showing more than ever.

Amaimon frowned. His brother was playing mind games again. He absolutely _hated_ it when he did that, but unfortunately that was just the sort of demon his Aniue was. He knew he deserved to be punished, but obviously Mephisto wanted him to say it out loud like some stupid little child admitting their wrongs. He gritted his teeth. If he didn't play along, the impending punishment would only get worse, but he didn't want to ridicule himself. He didn't want to play his brother's game. Lips tightening, he stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

For some reason Mephisto's smirk only widened and without saying a single word he simply snapped his fingers, causing the younger to flinch instinctively. The expected pain didnt come. Instead both Amaimon and Mephisto were suddenly surrounded by a cloud of the latter's usual pink and white magical smoke. Then Amaimon could feel solid ground under his feet for the first time in what must have been days suggesting they weren't within that strange void space of purple swirls anymore. Once his sight cleared again he was able to ascertain that what he stood on was a rather elaborate carpeted floor. What met the Earth King's eyes when he looked about was a room full with a rather colourful and expensive looking interior. He recognised the place as the headmaster's office of True Cross Academy. Mephisto's office.

Said demon leisurely strolled over to a coat hanger in the corner to take off his top hat and cape and then went to sit in the finely polsterd office chair behind his mahagony desk. Picking uo a pen he pulled a stack of papers towards him and started to work his way through it, apparently completely forgetting about the other demon who was standing dumbfounded in the middle of the room.

Amaimon frowned. His Aniue was ignoring him. He was deliberately not paying him the slightest bit of attention when he was _supposed _to be punishing him. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists drawing blood when his sharp nails punctured his skin. It wasn't as if he _wanted _to be punished, but he knew there was no way around it anyway, so he at least wanted for it to be over as quick as possible. That obviously wasn't going to happen what with his brother toying with him like this. He really had to force himself not to start shouting at his brother right now.

Then it suddenly occured to him that Mephisto had never acted like this when it came to punishing him before. He usually would just either beat him up a bit or make him do some very unpleasant chores and that was it. Once he was done, Amaimon just had to apologise properly and they never spoke of it again. Mephisto had never kept him isolated for days and expected him to tell him exactly what sort of crime he had commited in his eyes and why he needed to be punished for it. Then again, he had never attacked his brother before either. It had always just been a cause of him not following his aniue's instructions properly or disregarding them completely. Those instances had always just been something between the two. As the Earth King he didn't have to help his brother with his plans after all. It was only if he agreed to do so that he deserved to be punished should those plans fail due to a fault of his. This time was a completely different matter as it started to dawn on him now. He had attacked his older brother, Satan's eldest son, which was not only a bad deed in Mephisto's eyes, but also in the eyes of all of Gehenna, including their father.

Amaimon felt his blood run cold and a shudder run down his spine as his eyes grew wide. He now had a pretty good idea what all of this was about and he didn't like it one bit. The brightly coloured room suddenly seemed rather threatening to him and when he looked at his brother sitting in that office chair he couldn't help feeling himself reminded of a very different room, or rather hall, with a far darker interior and only one fairly huge throne in the middle of it. That room was usually lit by the infamous blue flames every demon knew to fear. Amaimon had witnessed more than one punishment taking place in there. He knew what was expected of him, how he was supposed to act if his assumptions were correct and his aniue truly intended for this to be a "proper" punishment.

The first time in his life he actually felt like running away. He couldn't help but wonder briefly whether this was how his many victims had felt before he had killed them. Shaking his head vigorously he took one deep breath. He could not allow himself to succumb to such a weakness as to start to panic like some mere lower ranking demon. He _was_ the Earth King after all, so he would endure this as dignified as possible.

He glanced at his brother who still appeared to be completely immersed in his work. Still slightly unsure if this really was what his aniue wanted him to do he started taking his coat off and draped it over one of the chairs close to him. He then took a few steps towards the desk and consequently his brother. Mephisto finnished one paper and pulled the next one towards him not ackowledging the younger demon in the slightest. Suppressing a sigh he simply let his legs give in slamming his knees on the carpet. If he did this slowly he would only start hesitating. Amaimon looked up. The older still hadn't budged.

Gritting his teeth slightly he reached behind himself and pulled his shirt out of his trousers to allow his tail to unwrap itself from his torso. It had been his aniue who had taught him to keep the green furry appendage hidden a long time ago. Not only was their tail every demon's weakest spot, but it also was a complete giveaway for their emotions, which could be rather dangerous in itself. Amaimon's tail was clearly showing how agitated he really was, lashing around wildly. Willing the appendage to calmly rest on the floor to his left draped around him like a cat's while only twitching slightly his sensitive ears suddenly picked up the sound of a pen being dropped. Looking up he was met by poisonous green eyes.

Mephisto was staring straight at his younger brother making Amaimon gulp slightly. So he _had_ been right. Seeing the older raise an eyebrow he knew he was getting impatient. Tearing his eyes from his aniue's pointed stare and horribly pleased smirk he leaned forward till his forehead was touching the carpet placing his hands to both sides of his head. He couldn't help but grit his teeth harder, clenching his eyes shut. This was probably the most demeaning position he had ever been in in his entire life. Hearing his brother's chuckle right in front of him made him jump slightly. He hadn't even noticed when the other had gotten up!

"You know Amaimon, I was starting to get worried whether I needed to _instruct_ you on the proper etiquette seeing how long it took you to adopt the right position."

The younger demon suddely felt a hand stroke along his neck and the back of his head. A clawed hand. His aniue had taken off his gloves. He supressed a shudder when he felt the sharp claws grace over his artery. His jaw started to hurt when he clenched his teeth even harder to stop himself from hissing when he felt the hand fist his hair and yank his head up sharply forcing him to look at his brother. Mephisto wore a truly frightening smile on his face.

"Tell me."

Amaimon could feel his eyes water. It wasn't because of the pain inflicted on his scalp due to the pulling of his hair. That was pretty much laughable. It was out of sheer humiliation and the feeling of utter helplessness.

"I- I disregarded your direct orders and I- ah-I punched you in the face and broke your nose. I was bad. I have to be punished."

"You have to be?"

"I must. I deserve to be punished, because I attacked you, my elder, a higher ranking demon."

By now Amaimon's voice was pretty much void of any emotions just like it usually was and he was just giving in to the inevitable.

"Guter Junge."

With that the grip in the younger's hair suddenly got stronger and his head was slammed face first into the floor. The noise of breaking bones was audible even over Amaimon's slight hiss. A part of him that wasn't feeling dizzy couldn't help but notice how his aniue had started his punishment by inflicting the same injury he had caused him when he punched him in the face. The difference being that it wouldn't remain the only one and that he wouldn't heal that qickly seeing how his brother kept pushing his face into the floor successfully crunching every single bone in his nose and making the blood stream forth and soak the expensive carpet.

When Mephisto finally let go of the younger's hair and stood straight, Amaimon immediately turned his head to the side and took in some huge gasps of air. He hadn't really been able to breathe properly with his face pressed so thoroughly into the carpet. He could feel his nose throbbing badly and saw the blood steaming. Juding by the wetness he felt under his ear it had left quite a stain on the carpet. While he was still busy taking deep breaths he suddenly felt his brother's foot pressing down hard on the side of his neck and throat, completely cutting off his airways effectively strangling him.

He cursed mentally. Of course he should have considered how appealing the sight of a victim being completely out of breath, for he was little else right now, was to any demon his brother included. He willed himself to remain still, hoping Mephisto would lose his interest if he didn't react as expected. That resolve was destroyed when he felt a hand take hold of his tail and squeeze hard, claws digging deep into the sensitive skin. Had he been able to he would certainly have voiced his pain quite audibly. Things being as they were he could only open his mouth in a silent scream, his own claws frantically scrambling on the carpet, while his whole body was tensing up due to the feeling of burning needles shooting up his spine. It hurt so badly! He couldn't control the maltreated appendage anymore, causing it to twitch wildly which only resulted in his aniue's claws digging deeper.

Amaimon could feel something wet other than blood run down his face. He truly started to feel the lack of oxygen now and couldn't think straight anymore. He only wanted to get away from the pain in his tail and he _needed_ air! He looked up at his brother through teary eyes to be met by the older's calculating and completely merciless stare. The younger started to feel panic creep into his mind. There was no way his aniue would actually _kill_ him, was there? He couldn't supress the trembling which shook his whole body. He started to dry heave which even worsened his need for air. And all the time the foot remained in place while it felt as if his tail could be torn off any minute. His lungs constricted painfully. His heartbeat sounded unusually loud in his ears and he could hear it getting slower. He made sure to once again make eye contact with his brother forcing himself to stare straight into those bright green orbs as he felt the overwhelming wish to simply close his eyes. His heart made a few last attempts to pump his blood through his body and then it stopped.


	3. What comes after

**Thanks again for the reviews! Never thought I'd get that many for my first fic ever! ^_^**

**This is already the last chapter I'm afraid. Please enjoy!  
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**Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist and all its characters belong to Kazue Kato.**

Mephisto observed as his little brother's eyes glazed over and his body stopped trembling. Letting go of the blood-soaked and badly affected tail which fell limply to the floor he took his foot off the younger's neck. For a moment he contemplated. He was _surprised_. It was the first time he had misjudged his little brother. He had expected Amaimon to leave this body, his vessel in Assiah, and return to Gehenna when he realised Mephisto wouldn't stop. It was what was logical, the natural choice for any demon faced with a close-to-death situation.

After all, they _could_ die in Assiah if they didn't leave their host bodies in time when being killed. Luckily, that rarely happened to any higher ranking demons, seeing how it meant for a demon to be completely taken by surprise. It usually only occurred in conflicts between such demons, seeing how human exorcists simply didn't have the means to get rid of them in another way than forcefully sending them back to Gehenna, if even that.

Now, having those facts in mind it was most curious how Amaimon had failed to do what any demon would have done. He certainly had enough time and yet he stayed. Mephisto pondered on the _why_. The idea of Amaimon wanting to die was completely out of the question. Mephisto also doubted that his little brother had suddenly developed an overly strong sense of pride that would stop him from saving his life by running away. That would just be absurd, especially as Amaimon never had had any problems with retreating from difficult situations before. Sure, for the Earth King, a son of Satan, to be forced to retreat could provoke some bad gossiping, but not if the one to cause it was his older brother, Satan's eldest son.

Mephisto saw himself left with only one possible reason as to why Amaimon had remained to be killed and the look he had seen in the younger's eyes only served to strenghten his assumption. His little brother _trusted him_, as ridiculous as that may seem. He trusted his older brother to an extent that was not only most unusual among demons, but simply unheard of. Mephisto bit his lip, drawing some blood with his sharp canines. _That little fool! _No one trusted him, ever! Not even their youngest brother, who really wasn't the smartest, was that fatuous.

Hissing slightly in the light of the unwanted, far too humane emotions welling up in him he crouched down and taking a hold of Amaimon's shoulder he turned his lifeless body over onto his back. Taking another look at the tear and blood streaked face he subsequently placed his clawed hand on the younger demon's chest and concentrated. A bright purple glow surrounded his hand and went straight into the body underneath it.

A heave went through the Earth King's body whereupon he shot up, eyes wide, gasping and choking badly. The shivering and gagging from earlier returned worse then ever and the older demon barely managed to snap his fingers to summon a bucket in time before his little brother started throwing up what appeared to be mostly stomach acids.

Mephisto simply remained crouched next to him, watching calmly till the heaving ceased. Snapping his fingers again, the bucket disappeared, leaving the younger demons hands which had been gripping the rim to fall onto his lap, shaking just as badly as the rest of his body. The older demon couldn't help a slight frown to appear on his forehead.

It seemed as if a reanimation wasn't something easy to cope with even for a strong demon like Amaimon. He hadn't expected his reactions to be so similar to the few humans he had brought back during the last few centuries. A weak rattling noise made him focus his attention back on his little brother. The younger demon was obviously trying to talk but failed quite miserably. No wonder really, his throat would be very sore after throwing up like that and literally being choked to death prior to it. He smirked.

"Oya, oya, Amaimon, don't stress yourself! Whatever it is you wish to say surely can wait for however long it will take for your sore throat to heal. Seeing how that is a rather unusual predicament for a demon I do not have the slightest idea how long that may be, though."

He couldn't help grinning at the annoyed expression that flashed across his little brother's face despite the still present trembling. He watched as Amaimon dragged his sleeve across his face to wipe some of the blood off, apparantly ignoring the pain it surely caused his healing nose. Moving quickly he took advantage of the younger's slowed reflexes and picked him up carrying him over to one of the sofas in the room.

Completely ingnoring the slight hissing the younger emitted in consequence of being carried in what humans would define as bridal style he contemplated for a moment before sitting down. With his legs up on the sofa he had his little brother sideways in his lap with Amaimon's back against the backrest. In this position Mephisto could feel the constant shivering of the Earth King's body all too well, no matter how much his little brother tried to suppress it.

"You really are a little fool, you know. Look at you, you haven't been in such a weak state since you were a small child."

The only answer he got was the younger pressing his face into his chest, stubbornly avoiding eye contact and smearing blood all over him, and Amaimon's claws slightly ripping his shirt when he clenched them. Hestitating only a moment longer Mephisto brought his left hand up to his own neck pulling off his ascot tie, throwning it unceremoniously onto the floor. While unbuttoning the first two buttons on his dress shirt a slight grin spread across his face.

"Well, I suppose if you're in the same state as a little baby demon brother you should also get the same treatment, nein?"

Amaimon's head shot up immediately, his eyes incredulously staring at the older demon. He wouldn't even have had time to voice any protests had he been capable of doing so, because the older 's right hand had grabbed a hold of the back of his head bringing his face close to the crook of Mephisto's neck. Seeing his little brother didn't move in the slightest, apparantly too shell-shocked by the older's actions, Mephisto chuckled and laced his clawed fingers through the younger's hair, reasuringly stroking his head, carefully avoiding to scratch him.

"Go on. It will certainly help you recover your strength, not to speak of doing wonders for your throat."

He pressed Amaimon's head down once more, this time feeling the younger reacting accordingly by sinking his sharp fangs into his neck and starting to suck up the blood that came oozing out of the wound. Leaning back till his head came to lie on the armrest, Mephisto allowed his eyes to droop somewhat. This was something no exorcist, no human, knew of. It was general knowledge that lower ranking demons tended to drink blood, that of other demons just like that of animals or humans, but the fact that high class demons also did so was completely unknown. Well, they didn't do it often.

Blood, even that of humans, contained quite a lot of energy, which was the reason why many weak demons liked to consume it in huge amounts in hopes of becoming stronger. As sons of Satan they, of course, would never sink that low and generally only drank other demon's blood when they were still young and developing their powers.

Usually the blood would be that of someone weaker than themselves, but he, Mephisto, had let his little brother drink his blood a few times in the past, when he had been beaten up quite badly by their father and in a critical state. Regaining strength after sustaining serious injuries generally being the only reason a grown up high ranking demon would drink anothers blood. _Or at least a well educated high ranking demon_, Mephisto mused.

He wasn't going to apologise to Amaimon, oh no. He had deserved to be punished after all. But the Earth King's surprising display of trust, and well, loyalty towards him deserved to be acknowledged. So letting him drink some of his blood and speeding up his recovery seemed a sufficient measure. Not to speak of the fact that it was strengthening their bond quite a bit. Voluntary sharing of blood was something rather intimate among demons and was also a general part of mating.

Being brought back from his musings he felt the younger's teeth leave his neck and was met with wide blue eyes looking up at him curiously. Mephisto smirked, seeing the incredulous frown on his little brother's face before Amaimon turned his head slightly, looking behind him, to make sure he wasn't imagining things. The younger's claws dug deeper into Mephisto's shirt as he observed the furry dark purple tail that had wrapped itself around his own, now healed, green one. Turning around to face him again, Amaimon's eyes flashed with joy and mischief and a fangy grin was plastered on his face when he rested his head once more on Mephisto's chest.

_That little devil, _Mephisto thought, _he knows I won't force him to get up now!_ Surpressing a chuckle he leaned back again, closing his eyes completely this time, being quite content with the situation for now. A little rest wouldn't do him any harm before his game moved to the next stage. When he was just about to fall asleep, he heard Amaimon mumble.

"Aniue…"

"Yes, Amaimon?"

"Sumimasen."

Mephisto had to control himself hard not to break out into laughter. There he was again, his annoying, careless, contantly bored little brother. After all that had happened he got the younger's standard apology, if one could even call it that. Not even a _gomen nasai, _no, a simple _sumimasen._

"Just go to sleep, you little monster."

His answer was slight snickering that sounded a bit _too _devilish even for Mephisto's liking. But just a bit.


End file.
